Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys run into J.J. Watt, Texans to open October


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 05-10-2018 01:09 IST | Created: 04-10-2018 20:46 IST

The stars will be out on Sunday night in the Lone Star State as Ezekiel Elliott, DeMarcus Lawrence and the Dallas Cowboys travel to Houston to face Deshaun Watson, J.J. Watt and the Texans.

Both Texas teams finished September pointed in a positive direction.

Houston (1-3) halted a nine-game skid with an overtime win at Indianapolis, and Dallas (2-2) defeated Detroit on a last-second field goal.

"We've got to do a good job of continuing to build and get better because it's a very long season," said Texans coach Bill O'Brien. "Nothing has been determined yet. Nothing. No divisions, no playoffs -- nothing's been determined."

Success in October is obviously much more critical than September, particularly for the Cowboys. Since coach Jason Garrett took over in the middle of the 2010 season, Dallas has only posted winning records twice in October: 2014 (3-1) and 2016 (4-0). Those are also the only two years his Cowboys made the playoffs.

"We've got to look at what we did last Sunday and fix what we did wrong, praise ourselves for what we did well," Elliott said. "But we can't be content with that. We've got to do that week in, week out if we want to be a good team in this league."

Watt and Lawrence have helped swing the pendulum in their teams' favour.

Watt, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year who missed 24 games the last two seasons due to injuries, has five sacks in his last two games. Lawrence, who leads the NFL with 5.5 sacks, collected three against the Lions.

Watson and Elliott also had their best games of 2018 last week. Watson totalled 416 yards of offence with three scores and Elliott, the NFL rushing leader, had a career-high 240 yards from scrimmage.

Despite Elliott's efforts, the Dallas offence ranks 30th in scoring, 30th in passing and 30th in third-down conversions.

Houston's offence has much better balance. The Texans fell just 7 rushing yards shy of joining the unbeaten Rams as the only NFL teams with 1,000 passing and 500 rushing yards through Week 4. They face a Cowboys defence that ranks last in the NFL in takeaways (two) and is the only team still without an interception.

The Houston defence only has one pick and ranks 27th against the pass, allowing 288.8 yards per game and a 115.3 QB rating. Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott is 16-1 for his career when his rating hits triple digits and 17-4 when he tops 200 yards, but first, he will have to avoid the rush of Watt and reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week Jadeveon Clowney.

Elliott has ankle and knee soreness but practiced Wednesday. Also participating were defensive tackles Antwaun Woods (calf) and Maliek Collins (knee) and defensive end David Irving, back from a four-game suspension. Linebacker Sean Lee (hamstring) and receiver Terrance Williams (personal issues) did not practice.

For Houston, wideouts DeAndre Hopkins (thumb, ankle, hamstring) and Will Fuller (hamstring) and running back Lamar Miller (chest) were limited practice participants on Wednesday. Cornerback Kayvon Webster was a full participant and could make his Texans debut after missing all of September with an Achilles injury.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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